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Duval Shoots Lowest Round Of Year

October 04, 2002|By ED RICHARDS Daily Press

JAMES CITY — It looked like the old David Duval at Kingsmill on Thursday, making gobs of birdies and an eagle. He didn't bear any resemblance to the player who at one time this year missed six of nine cuts and has fallen to 93th on the PGA Tour money-winning list.

The Duval who played on Thursday showed he still has the game to get back to the top of the rankings, which he once ruled. He shot a 7-under-par 64 -- his lowest round of the year -- to tie for the first round lead with Japanese flyweight Hidemichi Tanaka in the final edition of the Michelob Classic at Kingsmill.

Only two shots behind the co-leaders came 1996 champion Scott Hoch and 47-year-old Loren Roberts, who won last week's Texas Open. Corey Pavin, Bart Bryant and Jose Coceres also shot 66s.

Two-time defending champ David Toms, the top player for the U.S. at the Ryder Cup last week, opened with a 70.

"Other than a wreck at the end, I shot a good round," Toms said.

He was 4-under until double bogeying 17 and bogeying 18.

Maybe it was Duval's return to Kingsmill that brought out the best in him. He won the first of his 14 Tour victories at Kingsmill in 1997, won again in 1998, and tied for eighth in 1999. And, yes, he thinks he can win the PGA's final tournament at Kingsmill.

"I'm playing three events the rest of the year, maybe four, and the thinking I have is that I can clean up this year with three wins very easily, that I can turn what's been a bad golf year into another multiple win season," he said. "That's how I feel about my golf right now."

Duval, among the Top 10 money winners from 1996-2001, backed up his talk with a round that included seven birdies. He eagled the par-5 15th after ripping a 300-yard plus drive and hitting a 6-iron shot 20 feet from the hole.

His only problems came at the sixth and 14th holes. He bogeyed No. 6 after driving into the rough and bogeyed 14 after overshooting the green.

Duval, who hasn't won since capturing his first major at the British Open last year, said the rough is tough.

"It's damn near over the top, but the course is there to be had if you hit it in the fairways," he said

Duval was reluctant to talk about the problems that apparently have affected his game.

"I've gone through life a lot more like everybody does at times. I've had things going on elsewhere that are a distraction," he said.

Mentally, Duval is feeling good about his game, especially after a respectable showing at the Ryder Cup.

"Out there playing at the Ryder Cup and today, I felt like me," he said.

Tanaka, a mite compared to Duval at 5-foot-6 and 132 pounds, matched his lowest round of the season with eight birdies and one bogey. He did it while not feeling well.

"It's my 28th tournament and, physically, I was a little tired," he said through an interpreter. "Maybe because I didn't feel well, my legs were feeling a little bit weaker, so I didn't swing as hard as I could. Maybe that was better."

When asked how good his English was, Tanaka said: "It's one word: 'I am over the moon,' and 'McDonald's.' "

The 31-year-old Tanaka, a rookie on the PGA Tour, had a chance to take the outright lead but missed a 12-footer for birdie at 18. He also shot a 64 at the Canon Greater Hartford Open, giving him the first-round lead there.

Tanaka is no rookie to golf. He played on the Japanese Tour for seven years before deciding that if he wanted to play against the best in the world, he'd have to come to America.

Roberts, who won the Texas Open by three strokes on Sunday over Fred Couples, Fred Funk and Garrett Willis, got off to a hot start. Starting on the back nine, he birdied 10 and 11, then birdied 15, 17 and No. 1 to go 5-under through 10 holes.

Roberts came up short of the green at No. 2 for his only bogey. He birdied No. 7 for his final birdie of the day.

"I like the way I'm playing," Roberts said. "I've putted well and struck the ball very well. That's the reason I won last week."

Ed Richards can be reached at 247-4645 or by e-mail at erichards@dailypress.com.